Mumma was born and raised in Orange County, California. She attended the University of Arizona (Go Wildcats!) where she studied Journalism and minored in Political Science and Psychology.

During her internships there, Marlena covered big stories all along the Mexico Border, the Tucson shooting involving Congressman Gabby Giffords, and Occupy Tucson.

Marlena then headed across the country and started her career at WBKB in a small town in Northern Michigan – Alpena. There, she did everything from reporting to anchoring and even weather on the weekends.

Warm weather called Marlena to her next job in the Lone Star State. She reported and anchored weekend newscasts for KETK in Tyler, TX and WVLA in Baton Rouge, LA. During her time there, she covered an array of stories from the Kaufman County Murders, featured on Dateline NBC, to the controversy surrouding the Church of Wells, and Catherine Grove. She also interviewed Texas Senator Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, among many others.

After two years in East Texas, Marlena headed to Central Texas to report for KWTX in Waco. She was soon promoted to the 3 p.m. anchor spot. She produced and hosted many different guests from bands, to cooks, to fashion designers and pet adoption centers (where she adopted her 85 pound Aussie/Lab Mix, Bradley). Marlena’s effort saw that broadcast grow from #3 spot to the #1 spot.

Marlena met and fell in love with a solider and married him in May 2016. He is taking the Captain’s Career Course at Fort Benning and that’s what brought Marlena to WLTZ. Marlena and her husband are excited to live in East Alabama.